Oakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California. It is a major West Coast port, located on San Francisco Bay, about 8 miles (13 km) east of San Francisco. Oakland is a central hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat of Alameda County. Based on the United States Census Bureau for 2010, Oakland's population is 390,724. The area was inhabited by the Ohlone people for thousands of years before Spanish settlers displaced them in the 18th and 19th centuries. Spain expanded the Viceroyalty of New Spain and colonized Alta California to stop the advancement of Russia from Alaska. Much of the land that was to become Oakland was held by the Peralta family under the Rancho San Antonio (Peralta) land grant. New Spain became independent in 1821 under the name "Mexico." In 1846, the Territory of Alta California was conquered by American forces, becoming simply "California." Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, American squatters laid legal claim to the land held by the Peralta family. In 1852, the California legislature incorporated the town of Oakland.

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